


The Final Delve

by AxlDelveScribbles



Category: Delve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-10
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26874853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AxlDelveScribbles/pseuds/AxlDelveScribbles
Summary: Arsha has been working tirelessly, trying to break through the great wall to being a silverplate. She's already delved through two lairs trying to find a good essence monster, to no luck. She's starting to get a little frustrated, but well, maybe third time's the charm?
Kudos: 1





	The Final Delve

The pain was always there. Watching. Waiting. Patiently hoping for her to slip up, just so it could sink its claws into her brain and reduce Arsha into a crying mess. But she wouldn't let it. It had been three months since her last mistake, and she couldn't afford to mess up now. Not when she was so close to the end. _I wonder what it says about me that I've started thinking of a headache as if it's a living thing? Probably nothing good._

Suddenly, something grabbed her shoulder and gave her a rough shake. _Already?_ Arsha felt for her mana, the raging, surging river of power that came from her very soul. _Well, I guess I_ am _full. It's easy to lose track of time like this, isn't it?_ With a mental sigh, she released her **Resting Trance** and the world returned.

It looked pretty much the same as it had when she had started resting, maybe half a bell ago. Arsha and her party had been taking a short rest in a small stone structure. It wasn't much, but it was a very welcome respite from the scorching sun outside, though with how polished the marble surfaces were it wasn't exactly a perfect shelter from the sun, the light reflecting easily into every part of the room.

Looking around the circular room, maybe twenty stride across, the rest of the party seemed to be getting ready to move. They were packing up their things, checking equipment, and in the case of Hnin, trying to get a giant scorpion from the outside desert to climb the spiral staircase in the middle of the room. She wasn't having much success.

With another shake and an impatient “Zeyar's back. Stop spacing out and get the fuck up!” Arsha's attention was drawn to Thidar, the leader of their little group. She was a young woman, maybe a few years younger than Arsha herself, clad in wooden armor and wearing an impatient scowl. Together with her brothers Atkar and Zeyar they formed the core of their party. With a start, Arsha scrambled to her feet.

“Fucking finally,” Thidar grumbled and finally let go of her shoulder, “if this is what being a Mentalist does to the brain, it's a wonder Vatreece can get up in the morning.” She turned around and started walking over toward the staircase. “Five minutes tops, then we're leaving, with or without you.”

Arsha blinked, trying to process what she'd just been told while staring after Thidar. _I've never seen wooden armor before her, but she really makes it work, and in more than one way._ Shaking her head, Arsha glanced at her interface before picking up her pack and heading towards the center of the room.

By the Depths I Fucking Hate Light Lairs

| 

Rank 23

| 

72.00%  
  
---|---|---  
  
| 

Health

| 

Stamina

| 

Mana  
  
Arsha

| 

100.00%

| 

92.00%

| 

99.00%  
  
Thidar

| 

100.00%

| 

98.00%

| 

96.00%  
  
Atkar

| 

100.00%

| 

99.00%

| 

99.00%  
  
Zeyar

| 

100.00%

| 

96.00%

| 

85.00%  
  
Prokles

| 

100.00%

| 

93.00%

| 

95.00%  
  
Xanthe

| 

100.00%

| 

82.00%

| 

100.00%  
  
Szalai

| 

100.00%

| 

90.00%

| 

93.00%  
  
Hnin

| 

100.00%

| 

93.00%

| 

82.00%  
  
It seemed like everyone was pretty much rested, or at least as close to it as you could get inside a lair. Except for Hnin and Zeyar that is, and they hadn't really been resting. Hnin had been trying to get his stupid scorpion to climb the stairs, and Zeyar had been up scouting the way. As the party assembled near the stairs, Hnin finally seemed to give up and with a gesture the scorpion unceremoniously dissolved into nothingness.

“All right everyone, listen up!” Thidar said, “Zeyar went ahead but unfortunately there wasn't much to see. He didn't find any traps or nothing, but the stairs seem to keep on going for quite a while, so we'll have to be ready for anything while climbing. Xanthe, you're up front, followed by Zeyar, me, Prokles, Arsha, Szalai and Hnin, with Atkar taking up the rear. Arsha, do your thing and everyone else, be ready for anything.”

Arsha sighed. _Once again unto the breach I guess._ She **Dazed** herself again with a flex of mana and felt the sweet cotton cloud slither into her brain, dulling everything and making her thoughts sluggish, but shielding her from the pain of casting spells. With another thought, she reached out to her allies and made sure they were all **United in Purpose** , the mental connection snapping into place between them all, sharing some of their thoughts, senses and intentions in between them. It wasn't really true telepathy, she didn't have that yet, but it did wonders for their teamwork.

As they started climbing the stairs, their steps almost perfectly in sync, Arsha let her mind drift. The cadence of their steps was comforting, almost soothing in a way. _Step step step step, it's almost like a song._ Arsha giggled to herself, imagining them as a traveling band of minstrels, performing music around the globe. _Thidar should definitely be the singer, she's got an amazing voice. Atkar could be on the drums while Zeyar could do the lute I think, shouldn't be too much of a difference between that and a bowstring. Prokles could—_

“Hey, you alright girlie?” a voice said from behind.

Arsha started and turned, blinking somewhat owlishly at the man behind her. Szalai was the Fire Mage of the party, or whatever the silverplate equivalent was. He was a middle-aged man with short-cropped hair, wearing bright red robes with bare arms. Unlike most Fire Mages, he actually had a decent head on his shoulders. He might have wanted to blow everything up when he was younger – why else become a Fire Mage? – but he'd calmed down with age, thankfully. She was contemplating how to answer him, when he started waving his hand in front of her eyes with a concerned look. “Oy girlie, you awake in there?”

Irritated, she brushed the hand away. “I'm fine old man, just some Mentalist stuff. You wouldn't understand. You broke my concentration.”

He grunted. “Mentalist stuff? Girlie, I've worked with a few Mentalists before, and none of them have been like you. If you're this way because you're a Mentalist, I'm Burric the Volcano. And don't call me old man!”

“I'll stop calling you old man when you stop calling me girlie, old man. And whether you believe me or not, I am this way because of my class. Nothing weird about it.”

He shrugged. “Fine girlie, you don't want to say you don't want to say. It's none of my business, but in the middle of a godsdamned lair is not the place to be absent-minded. That's all I'm saying.”

Arsha huffed and turned back around, continuing her climb up the stairs. _What does he know? I know I'm weird, but it'll all be worth it._ With a thought, she brought up her full interface. She usually avoided doing that – what kind of specialist in mind magic would need _text_ of all things to show the information on her sould to her mind? – but right now she wanted to take a good look at herself.

Arsha

| 

Level 24

| 

Animus  
  
---|---|---  
  
**Vitals**  
  
**Health**

| 

**Stamina**

| 

**Mana**  
  
2600

| 

920

| 

61995  
  
**Attributes**  
  
**Strength**

| 

**Recovery**

| 

**Endurance**  
  
130

| 

10

| 

46  
  
**Vigor**

| 

**Focus**

| 

**Clarity**  
  
10

| 

344

| 

10  
  
She wasn't really a Mentalist like she told everyone, though she did specialize in mind magic. She was an Animus, one of the few monolithic classes that people actually picked, though she'd decided to try to deal with it in an unusual way. Most Animus tried to use equipment to increase their Clarity, thus avoiding the worst side-effects of Animus. But that was a losing strategy. The need for Clarity was simply too high, and trying to keep up was almost impossible. It left them vulnerable, with weak defenses little in the way of offense to show for it.

But Arsha had chosen a different way, and she was hoping that it was the right way. The foundation tier skill Daze was a pretty basic skill, used to stop monsters in their tracks. But if you used it on yourself, well the crippling headaches were still there, it just helped you ignore them. _Don't think about what this is doing to your brain Arsha, you've come too far to have doubts now. Once you're a silverplate it'll all work out. It has to. Because if it doesn't..._

* * *

As the group continued to climb, gradually the stonework of the stairs started becoming transparent. Bit by tiny bit, over the hours they climbed, the staircase faded away entirely, until it was like they were climbing up air. Most of the party, Arsha included, gawked at the sight revealed to them. They were high up in the sky, above even the clouds which they could see far below, like a bright white blanket covering the world below. The clear blue sky stretched around them in every direction but down, nothing in sight except more sky.

The end of the staircase came with no warning, and soon they were all standing on the landing at the top of the stairs. They crowded around the staircase, not daring to stray to far unless the invisible floor suddenly ended.

“Okay, what now? I don't fancy stepping of into an invisible pit and falling to my death,” grumbled Szalai. _He's really not good with this indirect stuff._

“Well, invisible stuff we can handle,” said Thidar while squinting towards the horizon, with a quick wave of the hand towards Zeyar. “But we really need to figure out where we're going before anything else. Any ideas?”

Arsha had been squinting outwards as well. They were all standing in a circle around the stairwell facing outwards, and she'd been checking out her part of the circle. As she turned towards Thidar, something caught her eye. A flash of light, faint but there for a moment. _What the?_ She tried looking at it but found nothing. A few curious twists and turns of her head later and— _There it is! Wow, I really need to hold my head just right to spot it don't I?_

“You see anything Arsha?” asked Zeyar from behind her. She didn't move, staring intently at the glinting light, but she pointed, and soon the entire party was doing the same.  
“Well it's something at least. Can you tell what it is Zeyar? It's so godsdamned faint...” Thidar trailed off.

“Well give me a moment, now that I know where to look it'll be fine, I just need to **Enhance**.” The last word was said with a strange cadence and Zeyar's eyes gave off a brief flash of light before his pupils grew to encompass most of his eyes. He winced. “Fuck the sun is bright, this is why I hate light lairs. But yeah, it seems to be some kind of cliff, with a bunch of crystals and birds all over it. I guess that's our next target.”

“Can you take us there?” Arsha asked. She knew a little of what Zeyar could do, but as always people were secretive regarding the specifics of their build. Arcane Archer was fairly common, a way of mixing magic with archery, but Zeyar seemed to take it in a different direction than most. His magic seemed to have a more Translocationist bent to it, with him teleporting frequently and bending space to hit targets in ways that blew other archers out of the water.

“That distance?” he snorted, “Not a chance. It helps a bit that I can actually see the destination, but that's way too far, at least for a group this size. Even if it was closer, there are a whole bunch of walls and stuff in between, and lair walls block that kind of thing.”

“Walls? I figured it was gonna be an invisible bridge or something like that. This is gonna be a pain.” Atkar sighed. The last of the sibling trio, Atkar was a large man wearing heavy armor and carrying a glaive. Just like his brother and sister he mixed magic and martial, somehow being able to split into multiple people fighting separately.

“Nah, I can kinda feel it, but it's pretty faint. Give me a moment to feel this thing out before we go, but from what I can tell it's like a maze.” Zeyar sat down while speaking, closing his eyes and seeming to enter some kind of trance.

“Well let's get ready everyone. We'll take this opportunity to make a short break while Zeyar's working,” Thidar said authoritatively, “Hnin, you get some minions going, Xanthe do whatever that thing it is you do. Everyone else just make sure you're ready in five. I'll take the chance to do some sunbathing.” With that, Thidar sat down next to her brother and closed her eyes. Within seconds her armor started sprouting, leaves, branches and vines starting to cover her up from head to toe, seeming to delight in the strong sunlight. It was like an entire tree growing from nothing in the span of seconds.

Arsha realized she was gawking, and snapped her mouth shut. _I never get tired of seeing that. I mean, I like my build, but sometimes she makes me regret it._ She turned away and wandered over to Hnin and Szalai who seemed be debating what kind of minions Hnin should summon, absentmindedly **Dazing** herself.

“No man I'm telling ya, earth stuff's the best against light monsters, especially when there's a bit of fire in them like there is here,” Szalai argued, “ice types are just gonna melt. Besides, we've got Prokles for that.” He gestured towards the Ice Mage of the party, a young man off to the side chugging water. Wearing thick, heavy robes was a good way for Ice Mages to deal with mageburn, or magefreeze in this case, but it was _not_ a good choice in clothing for this heat.

“Normally I would agree with you, but this is not the ordinary. Earth monsters do much better underground, and right now we are pretty much the opposite of that,” Hnin gestured towards the infinite sky surrounding them. The self-styled Necromancer was a bit of an odd duck in the group. Most everyone else was fairly casual, both in appearance and demeanor – at least when not on the job - but the girl was almost painfully formal. Wearing a black suit and glasses, she looked more like a Bank clerk than an adventurer. “I agreed with you down there in the desert, but up here? No, ice is the way to go I think. We will see how it goes and then I will adjust accordingly.”

“Ice? Ice! You can't pick ice, it's hot as balls up here. Not to mention my spells, they're not gonna last. If not earth, then at least air, or chemical, at least they'll probably like the sunlight. I'm telling ya-”

Tarsha quickly left them to their argument, not really feeling like contributing. Instead, she headed over to Prokles and sat down, sharing in his exhaustion. She had pretty decent Endurance, but those stairs had still taken a lot out of her. She needed a break. Clinking her water bottle to Prokles', she took a deep swig and closed her eyes. _By the Gods it's bright in the this lair._

* * *

All too soon they were roused, Thidar's now deep, gravelly voice demanding their attention. “Get up boys and girls, we're wasting time. I'd prefer not to spend the night in this fucking place, so let's get on with it shall we?” The young woman had finished her growth and turned into a five stride tall tree person. She was pretty similar to an ent, though thinner and more human-like. It was pretty intimidating in Tarha's humble opinion, especially once you'd seen what she could do when like this. She was something like a Nature Mage, though she used her magic to turn her wooden armor into a killing machine with her safely ensconced inside. She and her brothers made for a powerful, well-rounded team. There was a reason they'd made silverplate at their young age.

“Listen up people, because I'm only going to say this once,” Thidar said while clapping her now giant hands, “Zeyar felt out the maze ahead of us. Seems to be pretty basic, it's a maze with stairs and ramps and shit. It's filled with monsters of course, but everything's simple. The only catch is that it's all invisible, but with Zeyar and Arsha's skills combined, we should be fine. We've got to hurry up though, Zeyar's mana won't last forever. Arsha, go when ready, and make sure to boost that mental connection you've got as much as you can,” she pointed at Arsha and turned towards the distant cliff.

With a start, Arsha grabbed her gear and hurried over to join the others. **Daze**. **Focused Mind**. **Backlash**. **United in Purpose**. The pain from the **Backlash** almost pierced the cotton in her mind, but she was soon distracted by the blooming connection between the party, especially the one with Zeyar. It was rare for her to boost her **United in Purpose** skill this much, it was already a fairly costly skill as it was. At this level, it started to share their senses between them, which was always weird. This time took the cake though, because Zeyar apparently had some strange additional sense he shared now. She could almost _feel_ the space around her, though even that was wrong. It was more like remembering how your bedroom is laid out even in the dark, but applied in the present. She simply _knew_ that a long corridor stretched out before them, a multitude of doors lining each side. She could even faintly feel bodies, giant birds, slimes and snakes hiding around every corner. There were _a lot_ of them. _This is gonna suck isn't it?_

* * *

Surprisingly, it didn't suck very much. Their party was a well-oiled machine, and with everyone except her a silverplate the monsters proved to be little more than a nuisance. Thidar, Atkar and Xanthe were in front, crushing their enemies with ease, and any who slipped through were picked off by Szalai or Prokles. Zeyar wasn't much help with the fighting, but his guidance turned a grueling maze of constant danger into a cakewalk. Which was what she was paying them for, come to think of it. Soon, they were closing in on the distant cliff, though this close they could see it was more of a spire or tower.

Towering over them, the thick column's surface of polished marble was interspersed by thick veins of clear crystal, refracting and reflecting the light from the sun. It would have been pretty, but it was bright enough to be almost blinding. Birds could be seen around the spire, nesting in crevices or flying around it in flocks.

“Looks like even more climbing,” Szalai groaned, absentmindedly shooting a firebolt over his shoulder and incinerating a slime that had been following them. “I fucking hate this lair.”

“What, afraid of heights old man?” Prokles responded in a mocking tone. Arsha didn't know why, but it seemed like every Ice Mage and Fire Mage she'd ever met had been at each others throats, Szalai and Prokles no exception.”Have some godsdamned pride as a silverplate and stop complaining will you?”

“I'm not afraid of heights you little punk, I'm-”

Arsha tuned out their argument. They'd been bickering about one thing or another the entire time they'd been in the maze. On her part, she was getting increasingly worried. Based on the lair integrity – now down 43% - they'd made it more than halfway through the lair, and so far most monsters had been low-leveled ones. It didn't bode well for her chances of finding an essence monster level twenty-five or higher, and she was starting to get just a _little_ bit frustrated. _This is the third lair we've been to, and nothing to show for it. I mean we're taking the safe route with lower-leveled lairs but still. I don't know how much longer we're gonna be able to stick together if this goes on._ She'd saved up a frankly obscene amount of tel to pay for her escort through lairs, but at some point they might decide enough is enough and demand more. And Arsha didn't have any more, she was pretty much broke at this point.

It wasn't long before their trek across the invisible bridge-maze was over, and they stepped onto solid ground. Well, less transparent solid ground at least. The bridge ended at a small circular platform halfway inside the cliff face. Narrow stairs were cut into the side of the rock, spiraling up the sides of the cliff, and there was even a narrow crack at the very back of the platform leading further inside.

Arsha craned her neck and looked towards the top of the cliff, staring absently at the flocks of birds and perches lining the way to the top. _Wow that is high. I mean we're already pretty damn high, but at least we had walls and things to prevent us from falling._

“Hey Thidar, you'll catch me if I fall right? I know most of you guys have some way of catching yourself, but I sure don't,” she asked, looking back down and making a double take. Thidar's head was actually poking out of the front of her tree-armor thing, looking upwards with a frown on her face. The sight of her normal human-sized head poking out the front of a five stride tall wooden creature was decidedly out of place.

She made a hum of acknowledgment, not bothering to end her upwards gaze, “Yeah, sure. In fact, I'll do you one better.” She raised one arm towards Arsha, and with a whip-like crack, a thick vine shot out and wrapped itself tightly around Arsha's waist. “There, that'll make sure you don't fall. But right now my biggest worry are those birds. It'll be difficult to protect you more vulnerable people while climbing this thing. Zeyar, would you mind taking a look inside the crack for us? I doubt it'll be a better option, what with how much space most of us need, but better make sure,” she glanced at her brother.

He nodded, and with a blur he was suddenly standing before the crack, peering inside. Not hesitating, he turned sideways and sidled into it, soon moving out of sight. The rest simply sat down where they were, taking a brief rest. It didn't look like the birds were going to attack anytime soon. Arsha was the lone exception, as she was preoccupied with the vine wrapped around her midsection. She poked it.

“You know, I can think of a few times when this would've been _really_ useful. Like when I fell into that swamp in the chemical lair last month,” Arsha shuddered at the memory. _So slimy..._ “Is this something new you've figured out or have you been holding out on me?”

Thidar actually looked at her this time, before sighing. “Look, I'm sorry about that, but you won't always have me around to pick you up. I'm doing it now because you falling might actually kill you, but you really need to learn to - look out!” her voice shifted from the lecturing tone she often took into a more panicked scream as the vine suddenly tightened painfully around Arsha and she found herself wrenched from her footing. She was hurtling towards the wall, tumbling uncontrollably when she felt more than saw the scorching heat as a pillar of solid light slammed into the ground where she had been standing. As she slammed into the wall and her head bounced off with a resounding _crack_ , she caught sight of the source of the light pillar. A large, magnificent bird, similar to an eagle but with a plumage of mixed whites and golds and with a wingspan of easily twenty stride was bearing down on them. As it screeched defiantly and seemed to be preparing for another attack, Arsha finally managed to blink the spots out of her eyes and saw the bird's status.

Sunspire Phoenix

Level 25

* * *

It seemed as if the world slowed down. _This is it. Finally!_ As the rest of the party sprang into action around her, Arsha was focused entirely on the phoenix, a manic grin spreading across her face. Thidar was yelling something, but she wasn't listening. She had a motherfucking essence monster to kill! But first **Psi Armor.** The mental energy coalesced around her into a purple-hued coat of energy, protecting her from any further attacks. _I'm not gonna be able to do anything if I'm dead. Now for something a bit more fun._ She grinned and reached out for the bird with her mind, firing off a quick **Mental Blast** , almost invisible psionic energy flashing between them. It slammed into the mind of the phoenix, but the walls of resistance surrounding it held strong, no damage making it through and the **Connection** failing to take hold. Arsha narrowed her eyes. _Think you're so fucking tough huh? Well how about-_

Thidar stepped in front of her, blocking off her avenue of attack. Just in time as well, as with another blinding flash a beam of light slammed into her. She grunted but held firm, spreading her arms. With a loud roar, wood shot out of her body, forming branches and vines weaving together into a thick wall. A moment later, Prokles finished his chanting and a wall of ice formed as well, cutting off any holes and making a second line of defense. Arsha blinked in the sudden darkness, as the walls had sealed them away from the open air. With a snap of his fingers, a small flame fizzled into being in Szalai's hand and lighting up the enclosed space.

“You okay?” Thidar looked over her shoulder, her arms still connected to the wall of branches protecting them, new growth feeding into the already large mass and reinforcing it further. “Sorry for throwing you against the wall like that, but there was no time.”

“Yeah I'm fine,” Arsha groaned while checking the back of her head for any injuries. She'd lost some health, but physically she was fine. “Why'd you stop me, we could've taken him!”

“Well,” Thidar snorted, “I wasn't sure how you were, and I didn't want anyone messing this up in the confusion.” Finally she detached from the wall and turned towards the rest of the group, gesturing for them to huddle around her. “Alright, this is what we're here for. Wait for Arsha to get the first hit in before you kill it, okay? She should be able to get through the resistances, just keep it off of her until then. Xanthe, you had something you needed to do as well right?”

They all turned to look at Xanthe, the most archetypical warrior of their group. She was a stately woman with blonde hair who used a shield and spear bedecked in shining armor, taller than even the men of the group. She called herself a Binder, though Arsha had never heard of it before. Apparently she could bind herself in various ways to get stronger. She had stopped her own stamina regeneration for the duration of the lair, though whatever that gained her wasn't obvious. She nodded to Thidar, “Yes. I have a skill that I need to use on strong monsters to improve. Once Arsha's done her thing, I'll handle the rest.”

Thidar nodded. “Alright then, I'll lower my wall on the count of three, so everyone get ready. It's still out there, trying to break through.”

The group spread out and squared up, doing whatever they could to ready themselves. Thidar stepped in front of Arsha, leaving her just enough gaps to target through, and crouched into a ready stance.

“One...” Arsha stretched out her mind, again using **United in Purpose** on her party, though this time the increased coordination wasn't what she was after. Using the skill on her allies allowed her to **Connect** to them. It didn't do much on it's own beyond letting her target them easier, but it would be useful soon. In her head, she started overcharging a **Mental Blast** , feeling the pressure starting to quickly build up in her brain.

“Two...” To her sides, she could see the rest get ready. Atkar was spreading out, spreading his power between multiple mirror images of himself, standing protectively in front of the more vulnerable of them. Hnin was chanting, a large creature of some kind beginning to take form in front of her, and Xanthe was bouncing on her feet at the very front, shield and spear held at the ready.

“Three!” With a gesture from Thidar, the wall of branches receded and the phoenix came back into view. It was hovering in the air, a dozen stride above and out from the edge of the platform. Xanthe leaped forward into the air, taking a blast of light on her shield seemingly without issue. The light was blinding after the darkness behind the wall, but Arsha didn't let it deter her. She released the **Mental Blast** , slipping it over Thidar's shoulder to slam into the face of the bird. It didn't react, but she could see a small sliver of health be shaved off from its health and feel the **Connection** take hold, though it was tenuous and wouldn't last very long.

Technically, that was enough. She'd done damage to the essence monster, even if it wasn't very much. She could simply tell Thidar to handle the rest. It was what she paying them for after all. But Arsha was an  _ Animus _ for gods sake, and she took pride in that.  _ That little blip isn't enough, I'm gonna show them what I can do! _ With a grin, she decided to flex her power a bit, even if she would regret it later. She began overcharging a skill again, though this time it was  **Psychic Scream** instead. It didn't take long, she had maxed out Mana Manipulation a long time ago. The few seconds it took, Xanthe managed to keep the attention of the bird on herself.

Overcharging skills took its toll on her, and she felt like her head would burst. Seconds felt like minutes, but finally she was ready. She released it, the overcharged  **Psychic Scream** racing out in a wave of psionic energy. Empowered by every metamagic she had, the skill raced along her mental connections, shredding them as it went. Just before the skill would have hit every one in her party – and probably earned herself a beating – she twisted with  **Redirect** , and the energy turned, heading instead for the mind of the monster.

The effect was spectacular. The phoenix let out a loud screech and jerked back from Xanthe, almost falling as it seemed to lose control of its wings for a moment. A good portion of its health was lost instantly and blood could be seen falling from its eyes.

A cheer rose from the party, and with a cry of “Compelled Duel!” Xanthe dashed forward in the air, spearing the phoenix through the chest. The battle that followed was short and brutal, as Xanthe literally glowed with energy, each thrust with her spear leaving glowing trails in the air. Soon enough, with a last stab through the chest Xanthe finished it off.

With a last warbling cry, the phoenix burst into flame. The golden flames quickly consumed the bird entirely as it died, leaving nothing but some ash dancing in the wind. Xanthe had to dash away to avoid the flames, though Arsha could see she hadn't quite made it, her health dropping a surprisingly large amount.

Arsha's knees buckled, and she almost fell to the ground as relief washed over her. The party gathered around her, clapping her on the shoulder and congratulating her.  _ Finally.  _ She simply let gravity do its job and sat down, a wide grin on her face. Her head was pounding, she was tired and sweaty and she'd hit her head, but despite all that, she'd never felt so good in her life. She exhaled and waited for the kill notification to appear, to confirm the fruit of her labor.

She waited.

And waited.

Nothing appeared.  _ Okay, maybe I just missed it. _ With barely repressed panic, she opened her interface.

** Level 24. Experience 55249/55250 **

“What the fuck!” she screamed, wild eyes turning towards Xanthe. “Did you fucking steal my kill you fucking bitch! I'll kill you you-” she paused, what she was looking at catching up to her. Xanthe wasn't looking good. Her face was pale, twisted into a grimace of pain and she was leaning against the wall with shaking legs. “Hey are you okay? What's wrong?” 

“I-I don't know,” she stammered, dropping her spear and gesturing in the air. “As soon as the monster died, I started feeling awful. I didn't get a kill notification and now I can-” she paused, staring into air, reading something. After a moment she swallowed, turning her eyes towards the rest of the party and letting her arm fall to her side. “I think I know what happened. It's not dead.”

\bl

“What do you mean not dead? We fucking killed it, didn't we? I don't know about me, but I saw you stab that fucking bird through the heart,” Thidar said. She had walked over to Xanthe, and the warrior was now leaning on her.

Xanthe nodded. “Yeah I know, but it must still be alive somehow. My skill Compelled Duel, it forces me to focus on one enemy until it's dead. I get much worse at fighting anything else, and if I get too far away from it I start to feel like shit and lose health.” She wiped her face with a grimace, her hand coming away damp with sweat. “I've never had it happen before, but based on the skill description this seems to fit. It's alive somewhere, and my first guess is that it's at the top of this spire.” She pointed upwards.

“Lose health?” Thidar exclaimed, staring intently at Xanthe. “I don't see any change on the party interface. How bad are we talking?”

Xanthe grimaced. “I should be able to make it. As long as we hurry a bit, I'll survive. The bigger issue is the weakness,” she lifted a shaking arm to demonstrate. “I can barely walk, I won't be any help at all in a fight. Might get better as we get closer to the top, but I don't know. I've never had this happen before.”

“Fucking great,” Thidar muttered. “We'll wait for Zeyar's report, but I think we'll have to climb the outside, and fast. With one of our front-liners down we should make sure to stay out of tight quarters. Hnin, get some birds going, they'll have to help us climb faster.” She pointed at Hnin who saluted, before sighing. She walked over to Xanthe and tied her up with vines despite her loud protestations. Xanthe was hanging off her back like a backpack, and Thidar was once again growing, wood cracking and splintering as it grew. Soon she was much less humanoid in shape, looking more like an octopus or a gigantic slime.

After just a few minutes of waiting, Zeyar returned. He raised an eyebrow at the way Xanthe was being carried, but didn't comment. “It's like we thought, a whole bunch on small cracks and passageways going in all directions except down. There are a few traps and some monsters, but nothing too dangerous that I found. It doesn't widen or anything though, so we'd have to go single file.” He looked over the rest of the party, tilting his head at Xanthe. “You don't look so good. Did I miss something?”

“Nothing important, an essence monster showed up and we killed it, though it appears it didn't die properly.” Thidar replied over Xanthe's swearing. “We'll have to climb up top, and fast. You ready to go?”

Zeyar simply nodded and pulled out his bow. With that, the rest of the party formed up, surrounded by a swarm of large birds and bats controlled by Hnin. With Atkar in the lead, they started the long climb, stepping onto the thin, winding stairs leading upwards.

The climb was arduous, and not much chatting was possible as most of them were too busy simply trying to put one foot in front of the next. The exceptions were the sibling team, all of whom had various ways of making the climb easier. Zeyar as well as the two Ice and Fire mages dealt with most of the flying birds far before they could close in. Arsha would have helped, but she didn't have the range of the others. Besides, she was having the most trouble out of all of them with the climb. She wasn't the most graceful person on flat land, and trying to climb with a splitting headache and a dazed mind was no easy feat. She spent most of the time deliberately putting one foot in front of the next, making sure to always have a tight grip on the wall.  _ Why'd it have to be heights? If there's one thing I'm bad at it's heights. _ Soon all else faded away, and her world turned into nothing more than an endless series of steps, one after the next.

* * *

The first indication that anything had changed was when Arsha heard a loud argument from further ahead. She paused, lifting her head from her feet and looked forward. I seemed like Xanthe had regained some energy.

“Put me down godsdamnit, I can walk,” she grunted, squirming against her restraints. “I'm all better, seems I got used to it.” Arhsa frowned, and looked at her party interface. Xanthe had started the climb at 84% health, the final incineration of the phoenix having dealt quite a lot of damage to her. She was now down to 70%, a rather significant drop. Based on her own interface, they'd only been climbing for about a bell, but Arsha shuddered at the implications. _Even at full health that's what, less than seven bells to death? Damn I hope the buff's worth it, because that is fucked._

“You're feeling better?” Thidar mumbled, turning her head back to look Xanthe over. “Based on what you told me, that shouldn't happen. Unless...” she twisted her head back and forth, scanning the sky. “Unless it's coming back. Get ready everyone! Find some cover, it could be on us any moment!”

A moment of scrambling panic ensued as everyone tried to get ready, Xanthe gently being extricated from her bindings. Arsha looked around. They were all standing on a thin wooden walkway attached to the side of the cliff, maybe three foot wide and without railings. She judged they had made it maybe halfway to the top, maybe a bit less. The mages pressed themselves against the wall, trying to fit into any crevice they could find while the more sturdy fighters granted them as much cover as possible. They looked around warily, scanning for any threats.

A minute passed. Nothing happened, except Xanthe exclaiming how much better she felt. Even Zeyar couldn't say much. He'd used up most of his mana earlier, and he explained he didn't want to be left without any during the fight. Another minute passed, and then another. Five minutes later, they all started to relax a bit, though not too much. It was when you thought that the danger had passed that the lair was at its most dangerous after all.

“Okay, this isn't solving anything. We're just going to have to keep climbing, it's obviously staying away while we're ready,” Thidar said, relaxing her grip into the wall. She'd grown almost into the wall, looking more like a climbing ivy than anything else as she searched for any place to hold on to. She gradually returned to her more humanoid form, turning to Xanthe. “Tell us if you sense anything new. Otherwise, we'll keep going. Stay on guard people, you know the drill.”

Reluctantly, the party formed up again and started climbing. It was slower now, with every step being deliberate and planned. Compared to the almost frantic pace earlier, Arsha found herself much more comfortable now that they weren't spurred on by the danger to Xanthe. Nevertheless, the tension rose as they climbed. They all seemed to want to get it over with, but the phoenix refused to show itself. It wasn't until they had climbed for another half bell that something happened.

A loud screech echoed around the spire seemingly from everywhere, signaling that the phoenix was making its move. It hadn't showed itself, but the rest of the birds apparently took their lead from it. As the cry faded away, there was a moment of stillness. Then it was drowned out by a thousand caws and shrieks, as the smaller birds above went into a frenzy. They poured out of the cracks in the wall, raising hell and diving towards them. Arsha's eyes widened. They were a bit overleveled for this lair, but  _ still _ . She'd never seen anything like this before, except during a core panic. It seemed as if every last bird in the entire lair was heading towards them.

Szalai and Prokles came to the rescue, as they sent great masses of fire and ice respectively towards the incoming flock. The bursts of flame especially decimated the birds, the scorching heat of his fireballs tearing leaving great holes in the mass of birds.

But it wasn't enough, and with loud screeches the birds were upon them. Arsha frantically used  ** Mental Blast ** and  ** Psychic Scream ** trying to hold them off, but to no avail. Luckily her  ** Psi Armor ** held fast and she took little damage, but the screeching claws and biting beaks in her face were overwhelming. She closed her eyes tightly and screamed as they tried to rip her skin and drag her off the side, blindly launching  ** Mental Blasts ** and trying to  ** Hijack ** anything nearby. There were too many, she had to trust in the others, because she herself wasn't enough.

Then she heard another screech. A familiar screech, louder than the others and closing in. Her eyes flew open and there it was. The phoenix was right in front of her, diving towards her with its claws outstretched. Arsha desperately reached out towards its mind, trying to make herself  ** Unnoticeable ** to it, but it was too late. With a great crash and several crushed birds, the phoenix slammed into her and grabbed her with its talons, pinching her in them and wresting her from the cliff-face. She screamed and grabbed desperately for the vine connecting her to Thidar as the phoenix carried her away. It was still wrapped around her midsection, but she didn't care, she just wanted to grab  _ something _ . It stretched and went taut, Thidar holding fast to the other end. Arsha could feel the vine writhing and growing, Thidar trying to strenghten it. It wasn't enough, and after a moment it snapped, leaving the phoenix free to carry her away.

But the delay had been enough, and with a cry of “Bodyguard! Berserker!” Xanthe slammed into the phoenix spear first. Eyes glowing red, Xanthe started laying into the bird with spear and shield, using the shield as a club and ignoring all defense. The phoenix shrieked, twisting madly in the air and biting at its attacker, but to no avail. Xanthe was not to be deterred. Arsha helped, laying into it with a constant barrage of  ** Daze ** and  ** Mental Blast ** . The constant twisting and turning was making her nauseous, but at least it wasn't focused on killing her anymore.

After less than a minute of this it let go of her to attempted to flee, and Arsha fell. Disoriented, she had barely a moment to spare to reorient herself before she was once again wrapped in a vine. She followed it back to see the rest of the party where the battle had begun, holding onto the side of the cliff. It looked like they had cleared out the rest of the birds, and Arsha smiled in relief.  _ Looks like I'm not going to die today after all. _ Then the vine went taut as she continued her fall, doing nothing to slow her down. Her eyes widened as the vine turned a free fall into the world's largest pendulum, headed right for the cliffwall. She barely had time to think,  _ this is going to suck _ , before she slammed into the wall at crushing speeds. The air was knocked out of her lungs and she lost a good chunk of her health, something she remedied with a quick flex of  ** Mind and Body ** . For a moment, she just hung there, gasping for breath. She glanced upwards just in time to see the telltale burst of fire that signaled the end of Xanthe's fight, and then she relaxed.

* * *

“You know, this is the second time today you've slammed me into this cliff. Did I do something to upset you?” Arsha's grin did a lot to rob the remark of its bite. _Though I wish there had been a better way. Fuck that hurt._ As soon as the fight was over, Thidar had started reeling her back in, and by the time she was back up Xanthe had returned. Her state had turned for the worse, once again being a pale, sweaty mess. _Guess we didn't just have to kill it twice I guess. Maybe third time's the charm?_ With a sigh, Arsha looked over the rest of the party. It wasn't too bad – a quick glance at the party interface showed that no one had been seriously hurt – but the massive amount of birds had left a mark, at least among the weaker of the party. Prokles, Szalai and Hnin were all covered in scratches, their clothes a mess. Thidar looked guilty, if you could say that about a massive tree-monster, and she flinched a bit at Arsha's words.

“I'm sorry Arsha. I should've made the vine stronger. I said I would keep you from falling, and I didn't. Are you okay?” she asked, sounding almost apologetic. It was weird coming from Thidar of all people.

“I'm fine, I'm fine,” Arsha waved her off. “But I'd rather not face it a third time, so how about we go? I'd just like to get this over with.” Thidar looked a her for a long moment, and then nodded. Without another word, she wrapped Arsha tighter in her vine, before once again carrying Xanthe on her back and returning to the climb.

The rest of the climb passed without issue. It seemed they had exhausted the supply of birds, and excepting a few easily dispatched lizards hiding in cracks of the rock, they went unmolested. By the time the second fight with the phoenix happened, they had reached maybe two-thirds of the way to the top, and soon they reached the top. Xanthe had started to feel better around the nine-tenths mark, and she was eagerly climbing first.

The top was, in one word,  _ disappointing _ . It was a flat plane, maybe a hundred stride in diameter, with only two things that stood out. In the center was a low, circular building with a single room. Inside was a small plinth with a perfectly reflective sphere, about as big as Arsha's fist. The core. Other than that, there was also a large birds nest about halfway to the building, with an egg at the center of it. A quick glance revealed its status.

Sunspire Phoenix(Egg)

Level 25

They shuffled over to it, gathering in a circle around it. There wasn't much point in making a big deal over it, so she simply smashed the egg together with Xanthe, finally earning herself what she'd worked so hard for.

Your party has defeated [Sunspire Phoenix], Level 25

Your contribution: 36%

16287 Experience earned

[Level up]

Class selection unlocked

She smiled wide.  _ Yes, yes, yes yesyesyesYES! _ Giddily she swiped in her interface, revealing her choices. There it was, Legendary Animus.  _ I've done it. I've FUCKING done it! _ She started laughing, laughing and laughing.  _ Oh it was definitely worth it. _ She barely noticed as she was congratulated, people clapping her on the shoulder and even getting a hug from Thidar. She didn't care, she had only eyes for her interface. As the rest of the party left her to herself and headed towards the core, she picked through her choices, making sure to read every single line.  _ If I made some stupid mistake now because I didn't read the fine print I'd fucking kill myself. _ But everything seemed to be in order, and she soon finished her selection of class and specializations. She sighed in contentment and smiled, basking in the sunlight.

“Hey, you coming or not? We can't destroy the core until you're here,” yelled Thidar, breaking her moment and bringing her down to earth. _Oh right, we're still in a lair._ She turned and skipped, making her way over to the rest of the party, joining them for the finish. She was smiling widely. She was still sweaty and sore, she still had a pounding headache and she was still broke. But for once, she didn't care about any of that. She was just happy.


End file.
